In total, 70,000 people were drinking poisoned water. Some had been doing so for decades.

Please note three more things as you consider the story and the bigger water pollution picture here:* Don't say to yourself that PFOA in the water is someone else's problem far from Wisconsin, because the story includes a chart listing 27 other states with water systems known to also carry PFOA above what is scientifically called an "approximate safe level" - -and Wisconsin is on the list, with an estimated 30,100 people thusly exposed.

Who and where are they? UPDATE: West Bend.Who has known about this in Wisconsin, and for how long, and, most importantly, who's addressing it?* Again - - don't say to yourself, well, that's Dupont and West Virginia after all. Remember this recent disclosure about Wisconsin waters with chemical pollution that effects an estimated 94,000 state households:

Nitrate in Wisconsin Water Widespread, Current Rules No Match For It

According to state estimates, nitrate is at unsafe levels in an estimated 94,000 Wisconsin households. One in five wells in heavily agricultural areas is now too polluted with nitrate for safe drinking, according to data from the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection...

“Nitrate that approaches and exceeds unsafe levels in drinking water is one of the top drinking water contaminants in Wisconsin, posing an acute risk to infants and women who are pregnant, a possible risk to the developing fetus during very early stages of pregnancy, and a chronic risk of serious disease in adults,” according to the 2015 Wisconsin Groundwater Coordinating Council report to the Legislature.

The multi-agency council also reported that nitrate — one of the most widespread groundwater contaminants in Wisconsin — is “increasing in extent and severity.”

We’re constantly told to drink about eight cups of water a day, the ideal amount to stay healthy and hydrated for any average adult. This amount is increased when we decide to engage in exercise, sports, spend hours under the sun, or have a health condition that dehydrates us and requires us to drink excess water. See more http://survival-mastery.com/med/health/water-poisoning.html

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What water, wetland protection is all about

"A little fill here and there may seem to be nothing to become excited about. But one fill, though comparatively inconsequential, may lead to another, and another, and before long a great body may be eaten away until it may no longer exist. Our navigable waters are a precious natural heritage, once gone, they disappear forever," wrote the Wisconsin Supreme Court in its 1960 opinion resolving Hixon v. PSC and buttressing The Public Trust Doctrine, Article IX of the Wisconsin State Constitution.

Banned in Milwaukee

The right, suburbanites say "No light rail for Milwaukee."

James Rowen's Bio

James Rowen, a writer and consultant, has worked for newspapers, and as the senior Mayoral staffer, in Madison and Milwaukee, WI. This blog began on 2/2/ 2007. Posts run also at various news sites, including The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's "Purple Wisconsin."